The Education Ministry (MOE) will intensify efforts to promote the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and ensure that stakeholders understand that STEM studies can lead to bright careers.

Speaking at the Teacher Ambassador Award ceremony here on Wednesday night, its minister Fadhlina Sidek said there are students, especially those in Form Six, who have expressed concern about their career prospects if they opt for STEM courses.

“(It takes some) effort to talk to parents, which can be a bit challenging, to convince them that STEM has good career prospects.

“This is because parents tend to choose and determine the career choices and the future of their children, and there are constraints in convincing them to choose STEM as an option,” she said.

Fadhlina said that this was in line with the government's commitment to strengthen the field of STEM in the country, as reflected in Budget 2024 when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced the establishment of a Cross-Ministry STEM Special Committee to set targets and measures to increase student involvement.

Anwar also announced that the government will allocate RM100 million for the maintenance and upgrading of school computer laboratories and the acquisition of new equipment for STEM education.

Meanwhile, the event on Wednesday recognised the efforts of 253 teachers from the third cohort of the Teacher Ambassador Programme (PDG), a programme initiated through collaboration between the MOE, the Petronas Foundation and Teach for Malaysia which was introduced in 2020.

It marks the beginning of their role as catalysts for STEM education in their respective secondary schools, especially those with a majority of students from B40 families.

The PDG programme involves a two-year training session and is currently training teachers for the fourth cohort, which consists of 453 STEM teachers from secondary schools nationwide.

Read more here - https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/686725

#MOE #STEM #government #education #PDG #EUROCHAMMalaysia30 #EUMYstrongertogether #eurochammy